1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a vehicle exterior imaging apparatus for capturing an image of an environment around a vehicle mounting the apparatus.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, vehicles have been known which are mounted with a camera apparatus for capturing an image of the front, rear, or side of the vehicle which assists various driver's operations by, for example, displaying an image captured by the camera apparatus on a monitor, or analyzing an environment outside the vehicle based on the captured image to control traveling of the vehicle.
When installing such a camera apparatus in the exterior of the vehicle, foreign substances such as water drops and dirt may adhere to the lens. Thus, difficulty may occur in accurately recognizing the environment outside the vehicle and cause inconveniences in assisting the driver's operation. Therefore, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. 2009-220719, a camera apparatus having a washer device for discharging washer fluid to remove adhered foreign substances on the lens is provided. This enables the environment outside the vehicle to be accurately recognized.
However, according to the camera apparatus disclosed in JP-A No. 2009-220719, the washer fluid discharged to remove the adhered foreign substances may remain on the lens, and the monitored image may degrade due to the remained washer fluid. Further, if the washer fluid is discharged every time the adhered foreign substance is to be removed, the washer fluid requires a frequent re-fill, and maintenance may become troublesome. Moreover, when the washer fluid is short, the adhered foreign substances may not be removed.
A wiper may be provided to remove the adhered foreign substances on the lens. However, because such a wiper is generally made of rubber, its components must be replaced periodically, which still makes the maintenance become troublesome. Further, in a camera apparatus applying a curved lens such as a wide-angle lens, the wiper needs to conform to the curved surface, and thus the removal of the adhered foreign substance is difficult.